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The average investment return from email marketing is $36 for every dollar spent, making it one of the most fruitful marketing channels out there. However, solely relying on email drip campaigns could lead to problems for your business. That's because sending too many messages in a short period can cause email providers to flag them as spam. You also need to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, which establishes strict rules for commercial emails, and Gmail's new guidelines about sending bulk communications.
Using direct mail advertising alongside emails can diversify your outreach. You'll be able to reduce the number of emails you send to prospects and target them offline, where they might be more receptive to your messages. Here's how to combine your online and offline marketing strategies and create an integrated drip campaign.
Drip campaigns, whether online or offline, can help you target more customers. Here are some of the benefits of this marketing approach:
With drip campaigns, you can automatically dispatch emails and direct mail on a particular date or use schedule triggers to deliver these messages. That frees up manual work and lets you send relevant communications to prospects at specific times.
Segmenting audiences into smaller groups based on criteria like demographics, behavior, and shared characteristics can make your drip campaigns more effective. Segmentation is a standard practice in direct mail marketing, but you can use it with emails, too.
Personalized drip campaigns provide more opportunities to engage with prospects. For example, you can use the latest customer data to customize emails and direct mail based on behaviors, interests, and previous interactions with your brand.
Drip campaigns help you tell a story about your brand to customers. With each message you send, people will learn more about what your company stands for and its values.
Drip campaigns are extremely flexible. You can fine-tune campaigns after using the latest analytical tools to test the effectiveness of your messages. That helps you find out which emails and direct mail pieces resonate the most with your audience. Then, you can optimize those messages for better marketing outcomes.
Most people associate drip campaigns with email. However, you can supplement email marketing with direct mail and target people offline. Direct mail automation software makes this process easier, helping you nurture leads. Here are some tips for creating an integrated drip campaign that incorporates both email and DM.
For the direct mail portion of your drip campaign to be effective, you need the mailing addresses of potential customers. You can buy mailing lists from reputable companies or collect address data from customers via online forms.
Tip: An address verification or address validation tool will ensure your mail reaches the right locations.
"Email fatigue" is a real thing. If people receive too many messages from your company, they might unsubscribe from your mailing list. Prevent this from happening by staggering emails over time or offsetting emails in your sequence with direct mail.
Take a look at your email drip campaign and find out which messages don't perform as well as others. Then, turn these emails into automated direct mail pieces and send them to customers. That lets you target people in offline locations as well as virtual ones.
Compare different versions of emails and direct mail to see which messages are most effective with your audience. For even deeper insights, A/B test different parts of your messages, such as:
Emails make it easy for customers to visit your website and socials — just include a CTA with links to your online properties. With direct mail, people can scan QR codes to learn more about your brand online. Alternatively, include personalized or shortened URLs in direct mail pieces.
It can take 45 to 60 days to measure your direct mail marketing efforts — considerably longer than emails. However, tracking direct mail can reveal insights about how customers engage with these messages. Consider integrating your direct mail platform with an email marketing automation tool for a 360-degree overview of your entire drip campaign.
Combining email and direct mail is just one way to create an integrated drip campaign. You might also want to integrate direct mail services with SMS and send customers text messages about an offer or promotion in an upcoming direct mail piece. Retargeting and social media marketing are other methods you can incorporate into your drip campaign.
While email is still lucrative, combining this marketing method with direct mail can help you target customers both online and offline and reduce the number of emails you send to people. Consider creating an integrated drip campaign that uses both of these techniques for greater outreach.
Want to know how other marketers use direct mail campaigns? Get your copy of Lob's 2024 State of Direct Mail report now!
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